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That's actually quite an interesting observation, not a stupid or irrelevant one. The only trouble is, I have absoloutely no idea why they were called musketeers. I can only think that swordeteers didn't sound very elegant and that the musketeers might have gone on strike...<br> Why I think that I do not know...
The reason why they were called "Musketeers", was because these men were trained sharp shooters, which also answers the question why do they wear the musketeer syle hat. This is to shade their eyes from the glare of the sun, when they are shooting. The reason why the left side of their hat is folded up and pinned is because if they were right handed they drew their sword and as not to slice part of their hat off they needed to pin it. Once these musketeers ran out of powder, muskets, or whatever else they needed to fire their weapons, the battle would turn to hand-to-hand combat, or sword fighting.<br>Referring to the movies or books of the musketeers, the reason why their is more sword play than shooting is because sword play is more dramatic and more enjoyable to watch and sells tickets. Also, sword fighting was known as a gentlemans battle or fight, although there was alot of nasty ways you could hurt or harm your opponent in sword fighting, for the most part it was a one on one duel to the finish.<br>
Um, thanks. I didn't know.
Oh, yeah, Daniel, that strike thing is really funny. I can see all these guys with their goatees and mustaches and their hats turned up on the left side picketing around Paris with their signs. Classic. Maybe they'd form a union.
Oh, yeah, and I like swords, too. They're cool. But I'm not even good with microwaves, so I'm not sure I'm the one you want to trust with a long sharp object.
Its actually nothing to do with swords or muskets. They fired a pair of pistols most of the time during their training. but they were not very reliable weapons and often they would explode. In the case of Athos, Porthos and Aramis after many such incidents they had each blown off both ears, so the king said " These Three Must Get Ears" and of course, the name stuck.
Does anyone wonder why they're called musketeers? Why not swordeteers? They never have muskets, except when they go to that one battle, but the rest of the time, it's swords. They fight with swords, they have swords attached to them, and they're really identified with swords. So why call them musketeers? Sound kinda weird to me. You probably either think this observation was irrelevant and stupid or just funny.
That is certainly not the case. Keep in mind that the King of France spoke French.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dopey
They were called musketeers because of their weapon of choice: the musket.
The musketeers were an elite group of soldiers, performing a task similar to that of the Secret Service.
Dumas is an amazing writer. My favorite of his is The Knight Of Masion-Rouge, which he wrote during his career but was hidden, and not found until recently. I have The Count Of Monte Christo on my list of books to read. I read the abridged version of The Three Musketeers when I was a child, maybe 7 or 8. But I recently saw the movie version of The Man In The Iron Mask on tv, and I was very suprised to find out that D'Artangan (sp) Aramis, and the other musketeers were featured in it! Was this in the book as well?
The Man in the Iron Mask is the last book in the D'Artagnan Romances (the Three Musketeers is the first). The others are: Twenty Years After, The Vicomte de Bragelonne and Louise de la Valliere.
Athos, Porthos and Aramis were soldiers in the very prestigious regiment of The King's musketeers - something like King's Guard- which main arm, in the battlefield was the musket, a very heavy gun that needed to be held on a fork. You will find ancient drawings in a good Encyclopoedia. On the other hand, every noble had the privilege to wear a sword. Except when they were engaged in a battle, htey wouldn't want to carry the musket. In fact, the novel is about private adventures, so... D'Artagnan was not admitted in the Musketeers regiment till the end of the novel. They were four friend, but three musketeers
They certainly were not performing tasks similar to the secret service. This kind of duty didn't exist by that time! :cool: They used hteir muskets only in the battlefied.Quote:
Originally Posted by learn to swim
Maybe secret services didn't exit in their recent form at that time but one side of the comparison is exactly right: Musketeers are King's personel body guards. Like The Immortals of Persian King or Round Table Knights of King Arthur.Quote:
Originally Posted by verjat
Similar to today: Secret services like MIT (National Intelligence Agency) or CIA are protecting head of states, prime ministers and etc. Secret services are personel body guards to people that rules states.
Thank you for information.Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
Are you a military historian?
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Originally Posted by verjat
The name "Musketeer" is the right one for a story told at that time between end of glamorous days of swords and rising of fire guns....Quote:
Originally Posted by fulyaoktem